Indecisive
by Niea-7
Summary: Knightley suddenly met her perfect match, or so she thinks. Finding out where he’s headed, she travels to Duel Academy in search of that second chance-encounter. Alas, there’s more to this place than she’d ever hope to bargain for! OC-based love triangle.
1. Encounter

_**This is one of the stories I transferred over from my other website. (visit my profile for full details) You see, OCxCharacter pairings were fairly popular among their fanfiction stories and it was common for one to write a detailed profile for their OC before starting the story itself. Be aware that this was one of my very EARLY fanfictions! So excuse me if the writing is a bit…well, 'off'.**_

Disclaimer: _Yu-Gi-Oh! GX and all its characters rightfully belong to Kazuki Takahashi-sama x3_

* * *

_Hahaha...since SO many people have taken my Yu-Gi-Oh! GX multiple question poll more than any of my other Yu-Gi-Oh! polls I thought it'd be necessary to make a story about it too! :)_

OC Name:

Knightley Afura (Nite-lee Af-ra)

Age:

Jaden's age xP This is about season 1, so 15-16

Eyes:

Deep green

Hair:

Long, wearing a red beret

Hair color:

Brown

Outfit:  
Yellow turtle-neck top  
Brown suede jacket  
Red pleated mini school skirt  
Black knee-high boots

***

_The results in the poll were so tight that I'm going to write this story differently to anything else. I'm going to make you get multiple mini-crushes on all of them! :D  
Well...not exactly.  
You see it's going, to be like one of them things where the character is stuck between a decision where she can't simply choose who she really wants to be with._

_(hence 'OC otome' fic. I didn't know what else to call it .;;)_

_Please go easy on me, I'm not a genius with the duels and I'll be making it up as I go. Originals haven't always been my thing, but I am going to do my best._

_AND you'll figure out Knightley's personality when you read the story. ;)_

* * *

_I have FINALLY gathered up the strength to write out this story. My internet's getting disconnected soon so I might not be on for a while. My Chrono Crusade stories are holding me back too! By the way, when I put words in italics and in brackets, that means the OC is "(__thinking_)", okay?

***

**Encounter (part 1)**

I hung up my cellphone and ran out of the house.

"I'm late I'm late!"

Clinging to the shoulder bag I wore I sped down towards the end of the block when suddenly.

***CRASH***

I was pushed back on impact, something ran into me as soon as I had reached the corner. I sat up and rubbed my backside.

"Hey!" I shouted, "WHY DON'T YOU WATCH WHERE YOU'RE...go..ing..."

"Sorry about that. You alright?" said the good-looking boy I'd just bumped into.

"I..uh..well..uh…" I started to blush. "(_Hey...he's kinda..._)"

The boy stood up, dusted himself down and held out his hand to me.

"Need some help there?" he said.

I silently took his hand and got up, I couldn't stop gazing into his eyes...until something made that gaze get drawn away.

"Uh - is that a duel disk?" I asked him.

"Yeah! " he answered instantly, "So, you into dueling too?"

I rolled my eyes as I thought about what to say. "(_Duel Monsters?! No way!_)Um..well..not really..."

"Aw, that's a shame. Y'know if you had a deck…"

While I was thinking, I remembered my little brother who was also into dueling. "Uh – yeah – I have a deck!"

"Great!" he said, "So are you on your way to Duel Academy?"

I stared at him. "You mean that duel-based school on an island in the middle of no-where?"

That's when he looked at his watch and said, "I gotta go. So I'll see you at Duel Academy?"

"...Right." Was all I could say, then "OH! Where are my manners, my name's Knightley, Knightley Afura."

"It was nice meeting you Knightley." He replied, "I'm Jaden, Jaden Yuki."

"Heh...I'll..see you later." I said to him.

"Catch ya!" he said before turning away.

With that he ran off and disappeared around the next corner. I kept standing there in complete flattery.

"(_So now what?_)" I thought to myself, "(_Oh, I just have to see him again...and even steal my brother's deck. But how will I do that?_)"

I gasped.

"(_Duel Academy, I must find a way into Duel Academy._)"

I began looking for the nearest bulletin board. I walked around the bulletins and searched for the cruise ship departing times.

"AH! There it is!"

I went over and ran my finger across the timetable looking for a cruise ship labeled Duel Academy or something similar. Within 10 minutes of effort, I found it.

"10am, wharf 8, TOMORROW?"

I had to be ready, get my luggage packed...find a job there that'll hide my dislike for Duel Monsters. I soon forgot all about what I was late for and ran all the way back home.

.....

That night after dinner, I took out my suitcase, unzipped it and pulled it wide open.

"Let's see...my PJ's, my underwear, my tomorrow clothes, my laptop-for researching, trashy mags…"

I quickly shoved them into the back pocket of the suitcase. That was everything, except…

"Everything except my brother's deck!"

I stared blankly at my packed suitcase and backpack as I thought of how to take it from him. Asking him wouldn't be the smartest thing to do, seeing as he'd definitely say no.

I sighed. "Looks like there's no other way."

I walked out of my room and continued down the well-lit hallway. I reached my brother's room, took a deep breath, held the door handle, and pushed it open. The door opened with a creak and I peeked in to see my brother asleep in his bed.

"(_Easy now..._)"

I tip-toed over to his desk and searched for his deck, the hallway light being the only light-source I could rely on. My brother turned over in his sleep making me freeze until he was still again. I looked in his drawer and finally found it. Holding it in my hand I tip-toed out of his room and quietly shut his door. I looked at the deck of cards in my hand and sighed in relief, it was _his_ deck, not the playing cards. I went back into my room and examined the cards in it. I knew what his best card was…the Red Eyes Black Dragon.

I readied my backpack and suitcase next to my door and went to bed, half-panicking about how I would disguise my dislike for Duel Monsters tomorrow, since I _was_ going to a school full of dueling pros and fanatics.

.....

I ate my breakfast early, flung my backpack over my shoulder, grabbed my suitcase and went downstairs. I was about to reach the front-door when my mom interrupted.

"Knightley, where do you think you're going?"

I froze and my eyes widened as I tried thinking of a good excuse that would last for a month or two.

"Mom...I told you I'm going to stay at my friends house for study purposes." I said at last.

"For how long?" she asked.

"Uh...the subject I'm studying takes a LOT of work to complete so I'll be away for a month or two?"

"What subject is it?"

I thought hard of what subject wouldn't make her worry.

"…Textiles?" I answered hesitantly.

Mom gasped. "For a month or two?"

"Um...yes?"

"It must be a VERY high class area of Textiles you're working in. I'm so proud of you!"

She squealed and went over to hug me.

"I know! It's so cool!" I said, hoping she believed me.

She walked me to the front door with her arm around me.

"I'm so excited for you," she was saying, "Now you do your very best and study hard, okay?"

"I will." I replied

My brother came down the stairs at this point.

"Mom, where's Knightley going?" he asked.

"Morning, Kent." I greeted my brother casually, "(_Boy, he's up early today._)"

"She's going to become a famous fashion designer!" mom answered his question.

"Ugh...that's corny." He said.

"Unlike you, all over your fantasy card game thing-thing..." said mom.

"It's called Duel Monsters, mom!"

Mom ignored him and turned back to me.

"Be a good girl and take care of yourself,alright?"

I nodded. "Mm-hm."

"You don't believe me? I'll show you my deck." My brother said and ran upstairs to his room.

"(_Oh, crap!_)" I quickly turned and left, waving goodbye. "Bye mom!"

"Bye sweetie!"

.....

On the way to wharf 8 where the ship would be departing, I called a friend on my cellphone letting them know that I was going away for a month or two.

"But you HATE Duel Monsters." She said.

"I know, but I can't help myself." I replied, "I want to see Jaden again."

"Okay Knightley, follow your instincts if you have to, just be careful though. He might not be the only cute guy they have there."

I paused and thought about what she'd said. "You know what, you're right. This is the right chance for me to meet more guys!"

My friend groaned in disbelief. "Whatever, just know what you'll be getting yourself into. And take care, okay?"

She hung up. I looked over at wharf 8 and found a LOT of boys waiting there by the cruise ship. I took a deep breath, and then a step forward.


	2. Awkward Meetings Upon Arrival

_**This is one of the stories I transferred over from my other website. (visit my profile for full details) You see, OCxCharacter pairings were the 'in' thing among their fanfiction stories and it was common for one to write a detailed profile for their OC before starting the story itself. Be aware that this was one of my very EARLY fanfictions! So excuse me if the writing is a bit…well, 'off'.**_

Disclaimer: _Yu-Gi-Oh! GX and all its characters rightfully belong to Kazuki Takahashi-sama x3_

* * *

**Awkward Meetings Upon Arrival (part 2)**

"(_Whoa...she was right, there __are__ a lot of boys. How am I gonna survive in this?_)"

I made my way to the timetable I noticed the time for the ship's departure was highlighted in red. Underneath it read:

_Boat-trip to Academy Island cancelled, all duelists convert to the eastern helicopter pad._

"Aw, great..."

As I walked through the gate toward the heliport while pulling my suitcase along with me, I started thinking of how stupid this idea was. I listened to the wheels of my suitcase roll along the concrete as I continued walking.

"(_This is stupid! What the heck was I thinking coming here? Maybe I should -_ ) OOF!"

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" I heard someone say.

I realized I was watching the ground during deep thought – while walking – as I bumped into the back of a person in front of me. Stumbling backward and managing to stand straight again, I looked up to see a messy-dark-haired boy whose piercing eyes glared into mine.

"I-uh-I'm...sorry! S-sorry for being so absent-minded."

He grabbed the back of his neck and said "Jeez...you're such a klutz."

I lifted my bag to my face, clutching it and ran past him.

"(_I was only apologizing! He didn't have to be so rude about it! Are all of them like this?_)"

I tightened my grip on the bag to my face and shut my eyes to fight back the tears as the negative thoughts of coming here sprang back into my mind.

***TMP***

My foot had crashed into something and I fell forward, loosening the grip on my bag in shock.

"AAH!"

And landed uncomfortably on my hands and knees.

"UGH! Ow...GOD, I really am a klutz."

I frowned as I pulled my knees forward and rested my hands on my thighs, resting on my knees.

" Need some help?" Came another boy's voice.

"Huh?" The instant I looked up, I flinched back. "G-HAH?"

Standing before me was another handsome boy whose good-looks and righteous manners had bewitched me. He was holding out his hand and his facial expression became disoriented.

"I'm sorry, did I startle you?"

Aiii!!! That voice, that accent! Oh my god. It melted my heart.

"Yes, um..." I took his hand and he helped me up. He handed me my bag.

"Here, you dropped this."

"Uh - Thank you."

HECK, if I was going to be in a place for two months with this many good-looking men, I might as well make myself known.

"I'm Knightley, by the way. Sorry for causing you trouble...um…"

He seemed to hesitate before answering. Who could blame him? I was just some girl he helped out on the street. "Bastion, Misawa." He turned away, and when I looked in the direction he was facing, I saw a helicopter about to leave.

"I have to take off." He turned his head to me and raised his hand. "Perhaps we'll run into eachother another time."

I nodded. He walked off.

"Bye."

"Later!" I called.

I simply stood there in disbelief over what had just happened, before continuing my way down the heli-pad.

.....

"Hey, you!"

I dropped my bag on my foot as I jumped in surprise. "ACK!" I turned to see who called out and shook an angry fist in front of me.

" Listen here, you oaf! You don't sneak up on a lady and yell at her so rudely!"

"You've got a short fuse." Said the boy who turned out to be the rude person I bumped into earlier.

I groaned angrily. "Nice observation, but I have a _name_? It's Knightley."

"And I'm _Chazz_."

I scoffed. " The Chazz? Interesting name."

"No, it's – "

"What're you here for?"

I glared hatefully at him. He simply sighed, put his hand behind his back, and pulled out a bag on wheels by the handle.

"AH! That's my suitcase!" I exclaimed.

He pulled it out till it stood in front of him.

"Where did you – oh…"

I stared at him, looking unimpressed...with myself, as I remembered our unpleasant collision, that had caused me to run away in dismay, that had caused him to come into possession of my suitcase...that I had left behind after running from his impolite comment.

"I went looking for you to return it. Look, don't get the wrong impression. I'm only here to return what you lost, just doing what's right."

My opinion of him changed from then on. But seriously...I couldn't help but think out loud.

"Righteousness? Oafs like you proving that they're righteous?"

"You're no making no sense. But keep this in mind, will you? Chazz Princeton _never_ helped you."

My ears must've been playing tricks with me, or maybe I was just acting stupid because...I thought I'd heard him say, "...Chuck Norris?"

ARGH! What a stupid thing to say, I'm so lame. Maybe I should evade this situation right now. After that, someone – who probably knew him – came by asking for him.

"There you are. Hey Chazz, what are you helping this girl out for?"

Chazz turned his head. "No reason you idiot. I'm going."

He turned, walked off and disappeared into the crowd followed by his friend.

"(_God, he still thinks I'm a pathetic klutz. But since he came all the way here to return what I lost he can't be that bad, right? Then I again I did say Chuck Norris just then. And even though he asked me to keep this a secret, his opinion of me probably hasn't changed._)"

I slung my bag over my shoulder, grabbed hold of my suitcase and walked towards the boarding helicopter. I managed to sneak onboard unnoticed, and I didn't come across anyone else interesting until I reached the island.

.....

Onboard when the announcer proclaimed that our helicopter had arrived, I looked out the window and saw the island's distinctive environment of dome-shaped buildings surrounded by pointy towers and surrounding trees...and an active freaking volcano.

I leaned back in my chair and my anxious thoughts on coming here returned. "(_Bad idea. Bad idea. Bad idea! BAD idea!_)"

I crossed my arms over my chest with my hands resting on my shoulders, banging my head and back against my chair as I leaned forward and backward in short movements, I attempted to calm myself while chanting positive sentences in my head.

"(_I'm here to see Jaden. I'm not making an idiot of myself. My friends are going to back up my story. Mom thinks I'm studying. I'm here to see Jaden._)"

This continued – and maybe even made me feel worse – until the helicopter had landed. People walked out, everyone was assigned to their dorms by a man we watched on a screen named Chancellor what's-his-name. I, however, didn't take part in these 'Dueling Tests' that had taken place earlier and was not assigned to a 'Slifer Red' or a 'Ra Yellow' or an 'Obelisk Blue'.

"(_What am I going to do here then?? OH! I know!_)" I made my way to the head office and applied for an open job there. I won't even go into the details, but I was immediately assigned the job as a maid/housekeeper.

"(_Great, now I gotta make beds, tidy up dorm-rooms and clean the ensuites._)" I sighed. "(_This is probably a lesson I'm learning for coming here in the first place. Now then..._)"

In my hand I had a small electronic device which displayed information on a screen. I was given it so it would direct me to my dorm, and the other dorms I were to clean up first in order. I followed the map on my device and came across a wood-and-brick cottage in an isolated area quite far from the main building in a large clearing between trees, a meadow.

"Looks more like a shack to me." I said.

I walked hastily up the stairs to the verandah and struggled with the keys they handed to me at the head office. Once I found the key I was looking for, I pushed open the door into a spacious living room with a small kitchen beside it. I sighed with exhaustion as I dumped my luggage beside the TV set and slumped onto one of the lounges. I reached into my jacket pocket and took out my cellphone, I dialed a friend's phone number.

"Hello, my life sucks." Came her answer.

"Big time!" I giggled.

"So how are you? Did you make it in?"

"Aura," was my friend's name, "I didn't make it in, so I thought that getting a job here would be easier than dueling."

"WHAT?! Nice move, what are you going to tell Jaden when he sees you, huh?"

"I'll just tell him I _did_ take the test, I passed but..."

"But...?"

"Look, I'm working on it!" I snapped.

"…Okay. But take care of yourself, alright?"

"Right."

I hung up and let out another sigh as I spread my arms across the lounge and lifted my head to the ceiling.

"What am I gonna do with myself from here on?" I asked it, not that I expected it to answer back.


	3. Destitute But Resourceful

_**This is one of the stories I transferred over from my other website. (visit my profile for full details) Be aware that this was one of my very EARLY fanfictions! So excuse me if the writing is a bit…well, 'off'.**_

Disclaimer: _Yu-Gi-Oh! GX and all its characters rightfully belong to Kazuki Takahashi-sama x3_

* * *

Heya wombles! I am trying SO hard to come up with a better scenario, I might've come up with an awkward start. But I promise it will get better, I worked harder on this one than the last two!

***

**Destitute but Resourceful (part 3)**

***BRRING, BRRING, BRRING***

My first morning after my first night at Academy Island started with the loud sound of the alarm clock. I yawned as I sat up in bed and reached for the 'ALARM-OFF' button on top. Staring out the window like an awakened zombie-still sleepy by the way-I wondered what today would bring me to.

"(_I should stop thinking and start working._)"

I got up, brushed my teeth, washed my face and poured myself a bowl of cereal. I walked back into my bedroom and opened the wardrobe to see my housekeeping uniform on a coat hanger. I picked it up and paused to look at it, thinking of what I was getting myself into.

"(_Ah, What-The-Hell!_)"

I changed out of my PJ's and into the outfit. Before I could put on my treasured-red-beret, I heard a knock on the door. I placed the beret on my head and went to answer.

" Hello?" I said as I opened the door.

"Good morning! Is your name Knightley Afura?"

Standing before me was a somewhat-short and plump middle-aged woman wearing glasses and her brown hair was tied back into a large braid.

"Yes, that's me." I answered.

"Here's a map of all the dorms you'll be cleaning up today." She handed me a piece of paper.

My jaw dropped at the amount of buildings there were on campus, luckily only a few of them were marked with an X.

"Um...thank you." I said smiling sheepishly.

"You're welcome!" she replied, "My name is Ms Dorothy. I'm your supervisor from now on."

"Okay, so…where do I start exactly?" I asked her.

She answered in a joyful welcoming voice. "You'll be starting in the bottom-right corner of the map, it's not far from here. At the entrance to the dorm you'll find a trolley with all your house-keeping equipment inside."

She must've noticed the dubious look I had on my face because the next thing she did was put her hand to her mouth, chuckling. "No need to worry, you'll only be doing Chores, not Janitorial work."

I sighed in relief and put on a determined attitude. "Alright! I'll get to work straight away!"

"That's the way." she said, "Hm? Should that be included in the uniform?" She had noticed the red beret on my head.

"Oh, sorry!" I put my hands to my head to take it off.

"It's fine!" she pointed out, "If you need me, I'm the head of the card shop on this island. You'll find it marked on your map."

I nodded in response. "Mm-hm."

……

ARGH! What a drag. Today I spent most of my time washing and cleaning the rooms in the Obelisk Dorm, the high-class duelist dorm of all places! I pushed my maid trolley to the last room of the day. I raised my hand to knock on the door.

***knock knock knock***

"Housekeeping." I said.

The door was answered immediately by a tall male student with navy-blue hair and light-grey eyes that looked straight into me.

I gasped at the sight of him and felt myself blushing. "I-I'm here to finish my errands."

I stood there, motionlessly embarrassed.

He turned his head to the room behind him and glanced around. "The windows need to be wiped down...that's all there is for you to do in here."

His head turned back and he walked out of the room, I stepped back and pressed my back against the trolley to let him through.

"Excuse me, I have somewhere to be." He said, "Lock the door on your way out."

"Yes um..."

He walked down the long balcony to the stairs and disappeared. I watched him go.

"(_I can't believe myself. I didn't even ask for his name. Who __is__ he..?_)"

……

I put away the trolley and threw off my rubber gloves as I made my way to the card shop. Ms Dorothy greeted me handing me a towel.

"What's this for?" I asked.

"You've done such a great job today, go and hang loose at the hot spring baths." She smiled.

After such an uneventful day – well, except for that guy from the Obelisk dorm – I was over-joyed. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

_~Later that evening~_

Crap. I completely forgot that I'd be bathing in the baths of the Obelisk dorm! That's where duelists reside at this hour!

I sighed. I had already arrived at the place...which was surrounded by water. Dang I hate rowing...

I arrived and walked into the dressing room and undressed, then changed into my swimsuit. I wrapped myself in a towel and walked out of the change room into the room of hot steaming pools of water. There was a column in the middle that had a statue of a lion's head with water coming out of it like a water-fall.

I took off my towel and stepped in, the warming sensation blanketed my right foot, soon my whole body as I stepped in further so my feet touched the bottom. There were three other girls in the pool who were talking a long-ish distance from where I was.

"Hey, Alexis. Wanna chill out in the Obelisk raiding pool?" one of them asked.

"No thanks. We'll wait, and the guys will rage. I'm not in the mood for a _tackle_ Marco-Polo." the other one replied.

I turned my head to see a brown-haired girl with chin-length hair, a dark-haired girl with her hair in a large pigtail, and a blonde haired girl with elbow-length hair.

(_Tackle__ Marco-Polo? That's new..._)

I held my breath and dunked the rest of my body under the water up to my nose for more relief.

"Can you believe what that Jaden Yuki kid said to Doctor Crowler in class today?" said the brunette.

I half-choked on water as I jolted up from the water at the name mentioned in the girl's sentence.

"(_No way...are they talking about...did they say..._)"

"He's got some nerve to talk to a teacher like that, completely disrespectful! Don't you think, Alexis?" she asked the blonde one.

I could just barely hear the blonde-girl sigh under her breath. "Actually I thought it was kind of cool..."

She turned away from them. Hearing this I grumbled quietly as I dunked the rest of my body under the water up to my nose again.

"What? Him? Cool?" was the brunette's immediate response.

"He could be, if he had the talent to back-up that talk maybe." The dark-haired girl mused.

"I think he just might. Still, I won't know until I duel him myself." said the blonde.

(_Don't tell me __she__ likes Jaden too, then that would mean..._)

I turned away and punched the water with fire-burning through my eyes. "HA, RIVAL!"

All three girls turned their heads to my direction saying "Huh?"

(_Ack! Jeez...I have to stop drawing attention to myself._)

"_You_ there, hello?" came the voice of the blonde one.

I turned around, slowly putting on a smile. "Um…hi?"

"You seemed distracted just now, you okay?" she asked.

"Hey, I've never seen you around here before." said the brunette.

"You new here? What's your name?" asked the dark-haired girl.

"Afura," I replied casually, "Knightley Afura."

"My name is Alexis Rhodes." said the blonde one. "Behind me is Jasmine and Mindy."

The two girls behind her waved. I bowed, greeting them. "Alexis, Jasmine, Mindy."

I stood straight. "It's nice to meet you all! Heh – I should get going."

"We're almost done here too," said Alexis, "Want to walk with us back to the dorm?"

Dorm? What dorm? Maybe I'll find a way to sneak back to my cabin later. But why does she have to be so nice?

I nodded. "Sure".

_~Outside the bath-tub building~_

We all walked out of there wrapped in our towels.

Then we suddenly heard a voice in the dark say "That's not Jaden! It's that stammering-field spell-nitwit!"

"Who's there?" said Mindy.

"GAAH!" I could see a dark figure standing there in a tight-suit.

"What the-?!" I exclaimed.

"It's a boy!" cried Jasmine.

"I'm not a boy-I'm a man-Oh-Wait-Just-Forget it!" The figure turned around and made a run for it, headed towards the water. "You-don't-know-me-You-don't-know-me! GAAH!"

***SPLASH***

"Get him!"

I turned my head to see the commotion coming from a different direction to where I saw what I just saw.

Alexis, Jasmine and Mindy headed in the direction of where the girls crowded in one spot. I followed them into the center of the crowd where I saw a young Slifer red being held back by the arms by two other girls.

"Let go, please!" he pleaded.

"Not until you tell us why you're here. And it'd better be good." said Jasmine.

The rest of the girls dragged him into the girls' dorm. I saw the look on the poor boy's face and felt apologetic.

"(_Aw...poor guy._)" I thought.

"Hey Knightley, you coming?" Alexis asked me.

I would've rejected, because then she'd know I wasn't actually a duelist in their dorm, but I didn't want to leave the helpless Slifer boy in the wrath of these girls.

"Uh – coming!" I said, and followed her in.

……

_~Inside the Obelisk dorm~_

The girls and I had just changed back into our normal clothes. All the other girls had gone and the boy had his hands tied together by rope. He introduced himself by the name Syrus and explained his reason for coming by.

"A love letter from Alexis? You've got to be kidding." Mindy stated.

"Yep, ask her." The boy winked, "Hahaha…"

My Inner Knightley squealed in adoration. I linked my fingers together in front of me and my eyes sparkled. "(_AWW! HE'S SO CUTE!_)"

"Um, hel-lo?!" said Jasmine, "Alexis is really tall, and you're really short. She's good at dueling and you're really not. She's really hot and –"

"But it's true!" the boy cut in, "Just tell them Alexis. I even have the note right here."

He reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out a note and handed it to them. I couldn't help but think that I could've finished Jasmine's last sentence with "and you're really cute". But anyway...

"Syrus, my name isn't even spelt right." said Alexis, after seeing it.

"Sorry Syrus, but I think someone is yanking your chain here." Mindy stated.

I took the note off Jasmine to look at it out of curiosity.

"So then, you _don't_ love me?" asked Syrus earnestly.

I held the note up in front of me, when my eyes reached the bottom of the page I tried so hard to restrain my jealousy.

"Wait a second!" I said, "This note was made up for Jaden Yuki!"

"What? For Jaden?" Syrus was surprised, "But…"

I bent forward and held the note up in front of him.

He sighed sadly. "So I can't even get a _fake_ love letter."

"I'm so sorry, Syrus." I said to him.

"Me too." He replied glumly.

"I don't buy it..." said Jasmine, "He could've written the note to have an excuse to come here."

"What are you saying?" I asked, trying to hide my concern, "That you should report him for trespassing?"

"Hmm…" was Alexis's response.

Syrus panicked, "But I was invited! I swear!"

A female teacher from the dorm walked out of her room to see what was happening.

"Girls, just what is going on out here?"

I turned and put on a nervously worried expression. Jasmine and Mindy turned to Alexis and put on the same look.

Alexis exchanged glances with them and whispered, "Down. Hurry!"

Altogether they put their hands on Syrus's head and sat on top of him, then laughed nervously. I stood and stared in surprise, not daring to join in.

"Alright, what's up?" the teacher asked.

"You guys are heavy!" Syrus muffled.

"I beg your pardon?" Jasmine replied.

"Maybe you're just brittle!" said Mindy.

I had my hands to my mouth, still staring at Syrus's position. Alexis raised her arms into a shrug.

"Gee, sorry Miss Fontaine." she said to the teacher, "We'll make sure to keep a lid on things."

"Well, I sure hope so! It's nearly midnight! And I have class in the morning." Said the teacher, before returning to her room.

She walked back into her room and the girls sighed in relief. They stood up and faced eachother, I ran to Syrus's side.

"You okay there?" I asked him. He gave an exhausted sigh.

"So what now?" asked Mindy.

"I'll tell you what now, girls." said Alexis, "I say we leave Syrus here as some kind of bait...to find out what we were wondering about before. Hmm..."

"(_Alexis, I really don't like that grin._)"

......

They sent Jaden a voice-message – a well disguised one – saying they were holding Syrus hostage and that if he wanted his friend back, he'd have to come to the girl's dorm....ALONE. Darnit! I have to sleep early for work tomorrow, but this was probably my only suitable chance to see Jaden again.

Me, Alexis, Jasmine and Mindy along with tied-by-the-hands Syrus stood outside the dorm at the boating-dock and waited and watched the water. In the distance I could see someone – another Slifer Red – approaching the dock in their rowboat. They arrived and stepped out, I quietly gasped when I saw who it was.

" Hi, Jaden." Syrus said gloomily.

"Hey, so what exactly is going on here?" Jaden asked.

"(_He's right there, Knightley. RIGHT THERE!_)" I thought to myself, "(_Go and make yourself known! Oh wait, but he's here to duel Alexis. DARNIT!_)"

"Well, to make a long story short. I'm basically a big loser." replied Syrus.

"You're friend here, trespassed into the girl's campus." Jasmine stated.

"Is that true, Sy?" Jaden asked.

"Hey! It's not like that!" Syrus exclaimed.

"And now that _you're_ here, Jaden, you're trespassing too." Mindy pointed out.

"That's right." Said Alexis, "And if you don't want us to turn you in, you're gonna have to win your freedom by beating me in a duel right now."

Crap! I've heard of the consequences of trespassing before.

"But if you turn them in they'll get expelled!" I exclaimed suddenly.

Jaden caught sight of me and observed.

"Knightley!" he said, "Is that you?"

Uh-oh...

"So you're here on Academy Island too?" he asked again.

I grabbed the back of my neck and waved, smiling nervously. "Hi. Uh-yes, here I am! Hehehe..."

"You knew this guy all along?" Mindy asked.

"Then we should put _you_ in the line of being turned in too!" Jasmine suggested.

I waved my hands in front of me frantically. "No! That is-I-uh-"

"Don't worry Knightley, I won't let that happen." I heard Jaden say, "Now let's duel, Alexis."

Aw this is bad, real bad.


	4. Almost Caught in a Duel for Freedom!

_**This is one of the stories I transferred over from my other website. (visit my profile for full details) Be aware that this was one of my very EARLY fanfictions! So excuse me if the writing is a bit…well, 'off'.**_

Disclaimer: _Yu-Gi-Oh! GX and all its characters rightfully belong to Kazuki Takahashi-sama x3_

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**Almost Caught in a Duel for Freedom (part 4)**

Here we go! Sorry if some of the characters are out-of-character, but they only are when I need them to be. Otherwise the story wouldn't fit. SORRY!

***

"Then we should put _you_ in the line of being turned in too!" Jasmine suggested.

I waved my hands in front of me frantically. "No! That is - I - uh -"

"Don't worry Knightley, I won't let that happen." I heard Jaden say, "Now let's duel, Alexis."

Aw, this is bad. Real bad.

~Out on the water~

Alexis, Jasmine and Mindy were on one boat. And across from them, Jaden, Syrus and I were on another.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Jaden." Syrus muttered.

Alexis and Jaden were standing up at the front of the boats holding their duel disk and and deck.

"You ready?" Alexis asked him.

"Oh yeah." came his reply.

"Duel!" They both shouted.

"Get your game on, Alexis!" said Jaden.

"Here we go..." Syrus said nervously.

I worried for the outcome. An Obelisk versus a Slifer; high chance that she'll put us in our place.

I sighed hopelessly. "Brilliant..."

Alexis made the first move, summoning a 'something'-cyber in attack mode and throwing down a face-down. Jaden summoned ElementalHeroSparkman and had it attack Alexis's monster, but then she activated a trap-card which redirected his attack to her own. Which also allowed her monster to land a direct attack on Jaden, with an additonal bonus of a 600 attack point increase.

"Jaden!" Syrus called out.

"(_That's crazy!)"_ I thought,_ "(She sacrificed her own life points just so she could get to his!_)"

"So, you impressed?" Alexis teased.

"Impressed?" Jaden replied, " I think I'm in love."

At that moment, my eye twitched.

"You're sweet, too bad I have to crush you." said Alexis, "Now then, where were we?"

She summoned another monster named BladeSkater and activited the spellcard Polymerisation to summon her fusion monster, CyberBlader. It attacked and defeated Jaden's Sparkman causing him to lose more of his own life-points.

"Well, so much for him." Jaden muttered.

"Way to go Alexis!" Mindy cheered.

"Yeah, you got him now!" said Jasmine after her, "I knew that his victory over Doctor Crowler was just pot-luck."

"Well it'll be my pleasure to prove you wrong." said Jaden, "My draw!"

He activated a field-spell card called FusionGate, allowing him to summon a fusion monster without a polymerization card. So he summoned his very own FlameWingMan.

"Okay, so it looks like it'll be one fusion monster against another. Huh, Jaden? That's fine by me." said Alexis, "Although...since they have the exact same attack points, they're just going to destroy eachother."

"Not after I use this, they won't." Jaden pointed out.

He used a spellcard which allowed Wingman to attack any monster with the same attack points as him without getting destroyed. And now, thanks to his special ability, Alexis would take damage equal to her monster's attack points. It was a drag having to sit through this duel, but it was worth it to hear Alexis groan under her breath when she heard of Wingman's ability.

"Now go, Wingman! And attack CyberBlader!" Jaden commanded.

As his monster went in for the kill, I noticed a grin on Alexis's face. Then, her monster took NO damage from Wingman's attack. She explained that her CyberBlader's special ability allowed it to be unable to be destroyed by an opponent with one monster.

"But then, that would mean that..." Jaden began.

"_Neither_ of us lose any life points!" she confirmed.

"Well, it looks like you got me." said Jaden.

"Oh, and I get you Jaden. Believe me, you'll know it." Alexis drew her next card.

"(_Okay, now she's starting cheese me off with her smart-ass antics..._)" I thought to myself.

She equipped her CyberBlader with a FusionSpell card, increasing its attack points by a whole lot! Then she had CyberBlader land an attack on Jaden's FlameWingman, defeating it in the process and reducing his lifepoints to 200!

Alexis remarked sarcastically, "Uh-oh...you're lifepoints are looking pretty low. Hope you didn't unpack your bags here yet."

"Yeah, because if you lose you're all getting expelled!" Mindy teased.

"We ARE?!" Syrus exclaimed beside me.

"That's not gonna happen, Sy." Jaden assured him, "Promise."

"Yeah come on, Syrus." I said, giving a hopeful smile, "Jaden's got it all worked out."

I sadly expected the worst. "(_You sure you can deliver that promise, Jaden?_)"

Jaden drew a card and the look on his face changed to a hopeful one.

"Perfect!" he shouted.

"Uh?" was Alexis' immediate response.

He summoned Clayman and activated MonsterReborn, bringing back his elementalhero, Sparkman. And with the fieldspell card FusionGate in play, he was able to fuse them together to create a monster strong enough to defeat CyberBlader.

"Rise! Elemental Hero ThunderGiant!"

The summon was strong enough to knock back their boat a little.

"Hate to break it to ya, but my CyberBlader's attack points are still _higher_ at 3600." Alexis reminded him.

Jaden nodded. "Yeah I know, I know. But one of Thunder giant's abilities…is that he can destroy any monster whose original attack points are less than his own."

"Wait, original attack points?" I asked.

"That's right. Attack points without any kind of enhancement." He replied.

Alexis's eyes widened, "But before I played CyberBlader her attack points were just 2100!"

"Exactly." He said.

HA! Then her CyberBlader was immediately destroyed! AND, he still had his attack to use on Alexis herself! Victory!

"Alexis!" Jasmine called.

"Uh, what just happened?" came Mindy's reaction.

I grinned and pulled my hand down into a fist in front of me.

"Yeah!" Syrus hugged Jaden from behind.

"Alright!" said Jaden, "Looks like _that_ is game."

.....

We were all getting ready to return.

"Whew! I'm glad _that's_ over." I breathed.

"Well, a deal's a deal." Jaden said to Alexis, "I won, so we get off free."

"Okay guys, I won't back out. We'll keep quiet about what happened tonight." said Alexis.

"Well, if you ask me," said Jasmine, "I think we should turn all of them in right now!"

"Noone asked you." Alexis said to her.

"Alexis?" Jasmine was surprised.

"Jaden beat me in the duel fair and square, that's all there is to it." Alexis pointed out.

"Well, there's more to it than that, it was close." He said to her.

"Hm?"

Jaden nodded, "Yeah, you got game."

"Uh…"

He sat down in the boat and grabbed hold of the oars.

"Oh – hey, Alexis?" I called out.

"Hm? Yes, Knightley?" she replied.

"Thank you, for assisting me. It was nice to have met you." I smiled.

"Anytime." she replied.

She acts all welcoming when I meet her, then she wanted to have me expelled! Which Alexis is the real you?

" Well," I began.

"Seeya." Syrus continued.

"Later." Jaden finished.

He rowed us back to the Slifer dorms.

……

The Slifer dorms?! Oh-no-not-again! We went walking back to their dorms while I was hastily thinking of a way to sneak off. Panic started to rise in my mind.

"(_Uh...wha-do-I-do-wha-do-I-do?_)"

"So, Knightley."

"HUH?!"

Jaden's voice snapped me out of it.

"I see you've made friends with my buddy, Syrus."

"What?" I said, then remembered, "Oh, of course! He introduced himself to us – the girls and I – when..."

I didn't want to tell him about the fake love letter; I was afraid he would get ideas.

"I'm sorry there wasn't time for me to introduce myself. I'm Knightley, I've just started here not too long ago."

Syrus nodded, "Thanks for siding with me back there."

"Aw, hey." I said, "I saw you in a tight spot and just thought you could do with some ally."

I learnt by talking to both of them that ever since the day Syrus first witnessed Jaden's amazing duel victory against someone named Doctor Crowler at a D.A. Entry Exam he had been one of Jaden's closest friends. Syrus was placed in the Slifer Red dorm with Jaden and another duelist named Chumley on the day of arrival to Duel Academy.

"You were put into Slifer red after an astonishing duel like that?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah, but I'm glad to have been placed into the same dorm-room as this little guy!" said Jaden, who squeeze-hugged Syrus, who flinched back in response.

"Yeah, kinda WEIRD meeting at the entrance exams and NOW _ROOMMATES_?" He was smiling happily-awkwardly.

I put my hand to my mouth and laughed. "Who knows? Maybe the both of you were somehow connected in an ancient life!"

Jaden continued walking ahead. Syrus nodded.

"Yeah. Like he was some egyptian pharaoh, and I was the guardian, Seto?"

Jaden turned his head with an awkward and unimpressed facial-expression. "You said that on the first day, Syrus. No offence but that's just lame!"

"But it could be true!" Syrus implied.

"Forget it, they broke the moulds when they made two of us!"

Syrus sighed haplessly. "Yeah…for different reasons."

"Sy, we're gonna have to work harder on that confidence."

I smiled. Being shy and soft-spoken Syrus stayed close to Jaden and supported him greatly, and in return Jaden supported Syrus greatly too.

"Well, here we are." I heard Jaden say.

I looked up and saw a large outdated building of dorm-rooms.

I couldn't help but think out-loud. "That's an outhouse with a deck!"

They both glanced at me.

"UH – take no offence! I'm sure the dorms are luxurious inside. Heh…" I smiled clumsily.

"You got that right!" Jaden agreed.

"But ours is so small!" said Syrus.

"Hey, you're a small guy!" was Jaden's response.

I smiled and turned to leave. "Well, I'll see you two later. Till then!"

I started to run in one direction when Jaden called out. "Knightley!"

I stopped and turned around to see him talking from the balcony in front of his room. I couldn't see Syrus, maybe he was already inside.

"Yeah?" I replied.

"The girls' dorm is _that_ way?"

He pointed in another direction. UH-OH, I hurriedly thought of how to respond without revealing myself.

"Really?" I said, "How'd you come to know that? Did you trespass into that dorm aswell?"

I grinned cunningly, Jaden chuckled.

"Hahaha...Nope, but I could've been!"

I ran into that direction to hopefully disguise myself. Pausing, I turned back around.

"Um...Goodnight, Jaden."

He yawned and waved. "Sweet dreams, Knightley!"

I watched him return to his dorm room and shut the door. Then I ran back in the direction of my cabin until I reached it. I went inside, shut the door, and went straight into the bedroom. I changed into my PJs and went to bed. I lay there, in the dark, looking at the clock on the wall. It was already 2am.

"(_I couldn't bring myself to tell him...the real reason I came here..._)"

***

But tomorrow is another day! With the introduction of Syrus in this chapter-and the last one-I was hoping I could make his character more active in THIS one by including some dialog from Episode 2. Some of you might've noticed already. ^_^"

Anyway, next time we will discover another barrier holding back Knightley's search for answers. Including the return of an old acquaintance...

Keep reading!


	5. I'm Living In Circumvention

_**This is one of the stories I transferred over from my other website. (visit my profile for full details) Be aware that this was one of my very EARLY fanfictions! So excuse me if the writing is a bit…well, 'off'. I hope you will enjoy reading otherwise!**_

Disclaimer: _Yu-Gi-Oh! GX and all its characters rightfully belong to Kazuki Takahashi-sama x3_

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I'm Living In Circumvention (part 5)

I found myself standing on a hill overlooking a lit-up city on a starlit night.

"(_What am I doing here?_)"

I gasped as I heard a noise behind me. "Who's there?"

I turned around and saw a tall oak tree right beside me, looking in the direction of the sound of a twig-snapping, there were bushes and a forest of trees. A teenage girl emerged from them and walked up to me, it was my friend, Aura.

"Knightley..." she uttered.

"What is it Aura? Where _are_ we?" I asked her.

She walked past me, leaned her hand on the tree and glanced down at the city lights.

"A word of advice, Knightley. You have to be honest." She said.

"Aura?"

She turned around and looked me in the eye. "Reveal yourself, Knightley! You can't hide forever!"

"Reveal myself? What're you – "

"Show them who you really are!"

"Show who?"

"You know who I'm talking about."

"Uh…"

She raised her hand and pointed behind her. "Now go...find that tree!"

Confused and afraid, I took a step back and hit my foot against a hard object, which made me stumble backwards. I suddenly felt like the stars above me were getting closer and the sky was closing in.

……

I woke up with a start, and turned my head towards the digital clock.

"HOLY SH –"

I rolled off my bed and ran into the bathroom. I darted out-after my morning routine, aswell as getting changed-of my cabin and ran all the way there.

"I was supposed to meet Ms Dorothy at the Card Shop _hours_ ago!"

~The Card Shop~

I burst through the door. "Ms Dorothy?!"

The shop was empty, except for one lady standing at the counter.

"Whatcha need?" she asked, glancing at me.

Almost out of breath, I walked over to the counter. "Ms Dorothy wanted me to come here and collect my scheduled dorms for today."

"Oh, you must be the housekeeper." She replied, "Knightley, is it?"

"Yeah."

"Ms Dorothy's running late today, something's holding her up."

Whew! I'm glad I wasn't late after all.

"Oh..." I said, "Well, do you know what it is?"

The counter-girl shook her head. "Mm-mm. Luckily though, she ruled out your schedule yesterday already."

"Really?"

She reached under the counter and pulled out a piece of paper, she handed it to me. I looked at it and flinched back.

"NGH! The _Slifer_ dorm??!"

"Is…something wrong?" she asked.

I laughed nervously and smiled awkwardly. "Uh – no. There's no error in this timetable at all. Hehehe..."

She smiled at me cheerfully. "Well, you better get to work then. At this rate the jobs you'll have to do there could multiply."

I nodded. "Mm-hm."

I walked out of the shop and waved back at her. When I finally arrived, I dreaded going inside.

I sighed, "I guess I'll just have to deal with it, and maybe do the bottom storey first."

I pulled on the rubber gloves, and got to work. I knocked on the first door below. "Housekeeping."

~After cleaning the first few rooms~

I'm so stupid to have thought that the dorms even would have students in them at this time. They have classes and stuff, don't they?

"(_Heh, I'm just panicking over nothing aren't I?_)"

When I reached what I remembered as Jaden's room, I hesitated to knock on the door. And so I decided to leave it for last. By the time I finished cleaning out the last few dorms and pushed the maid-trolley back toward it, I felt hesitant all over again.

"(_Stop it, Knightley! You're making an idiot of yourself! And besides, it's probably empty anyway._)

But it wasn't just the fact the someone might be inside that scared me, I think it was because I was afraid of what I might find in there. Maybe I'd discover something that would-ARGH! I'm doing it again! I sighed and knocked on the door demeaningly.

"House..keeping..."

No answer, thank goodness! I used the dorm keys given to me to unlock the door and open it. Well...it looked like every other room in this 'outhouse-with-a-deck' dorm. The only bonus was a great view of the ocean from the cliff through the windows, and the balcony. I got to work, until I got to cleaning up the desk. I just couldn't help myself so I opened one of the drawers and began rummaging. All I could find were countless revision sheets and a timetable, showing that of a test duel that would take place today.

"(_Alright! This is the perfect opportunity for me to watch more of the duelists in action, and maybe I'll find a way to disguise myself with Kent's deck!_)"

I had almost completely forgotten that I'd stolen my brother's deck and brought it with me over here. I sighed, praying that I'd learn how to use it in time for me to quit being a housekeeper. In the meantime, I'm gonna live off of circumvention!

~The Card Shop~

I'd finished with the place and made my way back to the card shop to notify Ms Dorothy of my completed task. I opened the door and stepped in.

"Ms Doroth – " I then gasped loudly after seeing her.

She turned and answered me in her usual cheerful tone of voice. "Oh, the housekeeper's here, wait there just a moment!"

She was standing behind the counter along with her assistant, but it was the customers she was serving that made me take off my beret and cover my face from nose to chin.

"(_YIKES! Jaden and Syrus are here?!_)"

"Here, I have something for you." She said to her customer, Jaden.

"Huh?" he replied.

She put her hand to her mouth and chuckled. "Just take it as a 'Thank you' for helping me earlier."

I stood there with my face half-covered by my beret, I was blushing madly underneath.

"Now I _know_ I said we were out of cards but I did hide away a few. For polite young students like yourself." She handed him a small green package. "Maybe you could put them to some good use, when you're not fixing old cars, that is."

Jaden was awestruck at first when she held it out to him, but he soon happily accepted the card from her. He was about turn and leave until he just happened to catch a glimpse of me standing behind Ms Dorothy.

"Hey, you're the housekeeper right?" he asked me directly.

"Yes, her." Ms Dorothy answered, "She's definitely a fine recruit!"

I smiled awkwardly under my hat.

"Hang on, I've seen that somewhere before." said Syrus.

"(_UWAH! How can you recognize my smile just by looking at my eyes?! Unless he's talking about my beret..._)" I remembered that this was the same way I smiled when I reassured Syrus of Jaden's progress in his duel with Alexis.

Nice work, Knightley.

"What are you talking about, Sy?" Jaden asked.

"Take a look, Jaden." Syrus pointed out.

Jaden turned to me and saw me eye-to-eye.

"(*sigh* Those luminous eyes...ARGH! What am I thinking??!)"

I pushed the beret harder against my face and stepped closer behind Ms Dorothy.

"Hey, do I...know you from somewhere?" he asked.

I gulped, and answered in a deeper voice. "Uh..._no_. I've never seen or met _you_ before."

I shook my head, hoping he fell for it.

"Oh, alright then." He replied.

"(_That's __it__?!_)"

He turned away and waved as he left, Syrus followed him out. "See you later, thanks for the card!"

Ms Dorothy waved back. "You take care now!"

When Jaden and Syrus were finally out of sight, I shut my eyes and breathed a sigh of relief, placing the beret back on my head.

"Well, you're acting strange today." said Ms Dorothy.

Strange? Me? Aw, I suppose so...but then

"Yeah," I said, "You, out of no-where, gave that boy a special card from a hidden collection."

She smiled at me. "I had a primary reason for that."

She explained that she was running late because her car stopped working halfway through the trip.

"What?! You tried to push the car all the way up here on your own?" I asked, surprised.

"I'm glad I didn't! You see..."

Turned out that while she was trying to push it up the hill, Jaden just happened to stop by and save the day! That is, he saw her on the way to class and helped her out by pushing the car up with her.

"So that's why..." I said, "Oh, right! I've received your schedule, and I've just completed it."

"Is that so?" she asked me, "You've finished already?"

I grinned. "Every one."

"Wow!" she replied, "I'm impressed, and proud of myself for recruiting you!"

"So is, there anything else for me to do?" I asked.

She laughed and waved her hand in my direction. "That's all I had planned for you today! Go and take a break, you've earned it!"

"What? Really?"

She nodded, I grinned excitedly. "Great, thanks!" I was turning to leave when I remembered. "Um, actually...Ms Dorothy?

"Yes?"

"Do you know where I can find the arena where the dueling tests take place?"

.....

I went back to my cabin to change out of my work-uniform, then walked out and dashed into the arena-entrance.

"(_Whoa!_)"

The whole place was PACKED! Well, the stalls where the audience were. I looked around for a place to sit and recognized Syrus in the pack.

" (_Brilliant! Oh, wait – hang on..._)"

I recognized the boy sitting next to him as the one who helped me up when I fell over on the heli-pad, Bastion Misawa. Suddenly I was too shy to approach them. Not paying any attention to the duel happening, I was alerted by familiar voices down in the dueling arena itself.

"Aw, what's the matter Jaden? Having some test anxiety? Don't worry, it'll be over soon." said one voice.

"No way, Chazz." replied another voice that I recognized as Jaden's, "I've got a whole army of vicious monsters in my deck just waiting to get at you! This isn't over yet, it's just barely starting. My draw!"

I turned my head and saw a duel happening between Jaden and the almighty jerk I bumped into the other day, Chazz Princeton. I had arrived halfway through the duel, and it looked like Jaden was the one losing it.

" (_No way!_)" I noticed Chazz was in an Obelisk Blue outfit. "(_I heard these tests were only meant to be between members of the same team only! That's gotta be rigged..._)"

I thought I'd probably ask about it later, so I pushed my way through the audience to get there. "Ungh! Excuse me! Coming through!"

Before I could reach them I turned my head to see the duel's progress and was so clumsy as to not pay attention to the front of me that I fell over in the stalls.

"OOF!"

Not again! Anyway, I instantly stood up to see Syrus looking at me in surprise.

"Knightley?" he said, after seeing me, "When did you get here?"

"Hehe...long story." I smiled at him.

I raised my hand to wave at Bastion. "Ah, hello again."

"Hello." He replied.

I held my hand out as he did that day, only this time I offered a handshake. "You remember me, right?"

He smiled casually. "Yes, you're Knightley. From the heli-pad?"

I was delighted, and relieved I hadn't made a fool of myself. "Yes! Yes, that's me I'm glad you remembered!"

I sat down beside them as I turned my head back towards the duel and saw that Chazz had an all-powerful monster on his side while Jaden had none.

"I summon Winged Kuriboh in defence mode!" declared Jaden.

Suddenly all the girls in the audience squealed with fangirly-delight at the appearance of his Kuriboh. Syrus and Bastion glanced at the girls beside them in amazement.

I stared at the girls beside me, unimpressed. "(_...Good grief._)"

"And I'll throw down a face-down too. That's it." Jaden finished.

Syrus grew worried, "That's it? That's all? All he's been playing is _defense_!"

"(_Jaden __always__ knows what he's doing...right?_)"

"All done? Good!" said Chazz, "'Cause I'd like to cook that Kuriboh and I like mine 'well done'. There's about to be a fried furball on the field you loser!"

"You don't scare me." stated Jaden.

"No big deal! I don't have to!" Chazz answered back.

He had his DragonCatapult attack Jaden's WingedKuriboh and right before the hit, Jaden activated a card called transcending wing, which upgraded his monster to level 10! Chazz was shocked to see his monster's attack get deflected. Jaden explained that when Kuriboh was sacrificed, it destroyed all monsters in attack mode and redirected its attack points back at its owner. Chazz's monster's attack was redirected back at him and his monster-which got obliterated in the process-reducing his life-points to 1000.

"Lucky punk..." Chazz muttered.

"Lucky?" said Jaden, "Nah, I just happen to have a soft spot for old ladies. But not for _you_, Chazz. And that's too bad, 'cause with 1000 lifepoints, and with my turn coming up. All I need is the right monster, and you'll be finished!"

He just happened to draw elemental-hero Avion from his deck and so defeated Chazz and ended the duel.

Syrus raised his hand victoriously, "Jaden did it!"

He along with Bastion walked down to the stadium to accompany him for his triumph. I didn't follow them; wouldn't want to reveal myself to the rest of the academy!

The crowd cheered in unison as I sighed contently, and applauded for another victory. A male announcer spoke through the arena's speakers. "That was well played, Jaden. Not in the history of our revered academy has a Slifer ever dueled an Obelisk during these exams. It is with great pride that I grant you promotion to Ra yellow, good job!"

~After the duel~

I walked all the way back to my cabin at sunset and felt somewhat tired from today. I collapsed on the couch and gazed at the celing, asking myself the same question over and over again.

"I came here chasing after some guy, isn't that the sweetest thing? And I'm too scared to even be honest with him and his friends."

I chuckled wryly when I suddenly heard a knock on my door.

"Who could that be at this time?"

Then my cellphone rang and I answered it. "Aura?"

She shouted into the phone so loud I had to move it away from my ear. "Open the door you boy-crazy airhead!"

She hung up. I ran to the door and opened it to find her standing there carrying her own suitcase.

"Aura!" I exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"

"I figured that if you were going to chase after this 'Jaden' guy that you consider – " She raised her hands and shaped two fingers on each one like speech-marks. "'love-at-first-sight' or you think there are 'mutual feelings' between the two of you, I figured you'd need my help."

I was astonished, but relieved at the same time. I wouldn't have to deal with this alone with her help.

"Thank you, Aura." I hugged her.

"Anytime, but I have something to say." She placed her hands on her hips. "GEEZ, Knightley! You barely even know the guy, you shouldn't start crushing just yet! Just like you are now."

I stopped hugging her and looked at her grumpily. "I'm not crushing on nobody!"

Aura shrugged, "Chill, chill. I bet you've obtained multiple crushes on all the other guys you've met on the island already!"

At that moment, the faces of all the duelists I came across flashed through my mind in an instant. Jaden, Syrus, Bastion, Chazz, even the mystery-guy from the Obelisk dorm...

"(_Oh dear..._)"

"Hey, Knightley. Your face is beet-red!"

I gasped and shook my head vigorously to shake it off. I placed my hands on my cheeks and frowned. "Aura, I..."

"OOOH! Nice pad!" She stepped past me wheeling her suitcase along with her into the cabin. I turned around as my eyes followed her. "Hmm..."

She left the suitcase beside the couch in the loungeroom-which was basically the entrance, by the way-and sat down on it spreading her arms and legs across the pillows. "Since this place only has one bed, I'll be sleeping on the couch from here on!"

She didn't seem unimpressed by that, what I couldn't help wondering was how she even got accepted entry here.

"Aura, did you...sign up for a housekeeping job too?"

She winked at me and smiled. "Suuure did! Ms Dorothy sure is a nice lady, you and I are lucky to have her as our boss."

"(_Unlucky__ that she knows Jaden, and because of that I might have to reveal myself to him sooner than I thought._)

I stood behind the couch and leaned my arms against the top and rested my chin on them, frowning.

"Knightley, what's wrong?" Aura asked.

I smiled at her. "Nothing, it's no big deal."

"Great! Well, make sure you keep it together then. Whatever happens!" She got off the couch and bent down in front of her suitcase to start opening it and unpack. "Now then, let's see...I hope you have room for accessories."

I laughed lightly and sighed comfortably. I'm glad she's here to help me get back on track for what I'm trying to accomplish here on this island. But then...

"(_What about that strange dream I had last night?_)"

I glanced at Aura who had already begun carrying small piles of clothes from her suitcase into the bedroom.

"(_Is she here to help me get through through honesty? Or maybe even...wait, what did it mean when she demanded 'Find that tree.'?_)"

I shivered at the thought, for some reason in the dream I was frightened when she demanded that.

"(_Was the tree a 'metaphoric' resemblance of where I should be heading with my plans? If not, then what...?_)"

"Hey, Knightley." Aura's voice disturbed my train of thought, "Some help would be admired."

I quickly shook off the feeling of uncertainty, then stood up to help Aura unpack the rest of her luggage to take my mind off it.


	6. What are YOU doing here?

_**This is one of the stories I transferred over from my other website. (visit my profile for full details) Be aware that this was one of my very EARLY fanfictions! So excuse me if the writing is a bit…well, 'off'. I hope you will enjoy reading it otherwise!**_

Disclaimer: _Yu-Gi-Oh! GX and all its characters rightfully belong to Kazuki Takahashi-sama x3_

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What are YOU doing here?! (part 6)

The next morning was sporadic, I had a day off today and my friend Aura had just moved in to support me. I sat up in bed as I recalled the dream I had last night, the same dream as the night before. I still couldn't figure out why – in that dream – Aura frightened me when she pointed to the tree behind her and demanded "Go find that tree!". Then I'd take a step back, confused frightened at the same time, before my ankle bumped a rock and I'd stumble backwards before waking up right after falling halfway.

(_This is hopeless..._)

I got out of bed and walked into the lounge room where Aura was sleeping on the couch with her arms and legs all over the place and her blanket on the floor. I walked over to her and realized her short hair was in a big mess. I gasped and ran to the bathroom, faced the mirror and dropped my jaw at the state of my own hair.

"Auraaah!"

I heard loud thud from the lounge room and fast-paced footsteps approaching the bathroom – then she appeared at the doorway. "What? What? What?!

I smiled at her and pointed to the mirror. "You look ridiculous!"

She walked up and stood beside me before looking in the mirror herself. "HUH?! Yours is a messy willow tree but mine's..."

"A little birdnest." I finished for her.

We glanced at eachother in silence, then burst out laughing.

It was just one of the many jokes we threw at eachother that kept our friendship alive.

~Outside the Cabin~

This morning we decided what to do on our first day off, first thing was that we'd take a short walk towards and along the pier. We changed into our regular clothes and Aura went outside first, she waited outside the doorway.

"C'mon, Knightley! Hurry up!" she called.

I was still inside, I placed my beret on my head and walked out the door as Aura stretched her arms out.

"Ahhh...I arrive to help you with your mission and our disguise takes its day off on the day I arrive. Fancy that?" she said.

"Huh..." I replied.

We began walking and she asked how I was doing. "So what are their names?"

"Who?" I asked.

"You _know_...apart from Jaden." She answered.

"Um..."

"You've come across quite few more haven't you?"

"Aura!" I blushed and pulled my beret further down my head. "I haven't done anything! I mean, I'm not in a relationship with Jaden_ or_ anyone else!"

"Hey, hey! I'm not accusing you of that. How many more are there?"

"Well...three, I think..."

"_Really_?"

"_Four_, even, if only I knew his name!"

"Wow! I four-timer, eh?"

I glared at her, she giggled.

"Such crude humour!" I said to her.

"I apologize, do you remember their names?"

I lowered my arms to my sides and sighed. "I am NOT telling you. But there's Jaden, obviously."

"Mm-hm?"

"The second guy, he's…such a gentleman."

"And charming, I presume?"

I groaned at her angrily, then continued. "And...no way, that guy isn't even worth mentioning."

"And he's..?" Aura urged.

"A total jerk!" I snapped, " His attitude reeks and he's a selfish pain in the – "

"Okay, okay!" said Aura, "Yet for some reason you find him attractive?"

I shook my head vigorously. "Absolutely not!"

"HA! This could be a case of opposites-attract eh?" she teased.

I had nothing to say to that.

"So who's the 4th one?" Aura asked.

I stopped walking, for some reason my encounter with him was the most memorable. "I...have no idea."

She looked at me questioningly.

"Okay," I said to her, "I was almost done with cleaning the Obelisk dorm and I reached the last door. I knock, then immediately I'm answered by a tall male student with navy-blue hair and light-grey eyes that looked straight into me. I was starstruck, standing there I just stood there, motionlessly embarrassed."

"And you didn't even ask anything?" she asked.

"I'm just a chambermaid!" I pointed out, "How do you think you'd react if _you_ were a student here and I said "Hey, I'm here to finish my errands. By the way, before I perform them, what's your name?""

"I see…"

"And so he left the room so I could do my job." I finished.

"Hey! Look at that!" Aura shouted.

Phew! She changed the subject. We had reached the pier and there was a boat docked.

"New students?" I wondered.

She put her hand to her forehead and bent forward to take a closer look. "Uh-oh...worse."

I walked closer to the pier and she followed me. A single student stepped out of the boat and we both stood there, gobsmacked at the sight of him.

"Heya, sis! Aura! Fancy seeing you here."

My brother! My squinty little younger brother was here, on Academy Island!

"Hey! Close your mouth before a bug flies in." said Kent, my brother.

I realized I had been gawking and shut my mouth immediately, then clenched my fists as I glared at him with confusion. "Kent?! What are YOU doing here?! How did you – "

"Before you say anything," he cut in, "Tell me what my big sister – who isn't into dueling – is doing on Academy Island?"

Uh-oh…

"Hey, that's nothing _you_ need to know!" I barked.

"Oooh...I'm telling mom!" he said.

"Kent, no!" I shouted.

"You're gonna get in trouble!" he said in a sing-songy voice.

I was about to throw myself at him when Aura put her arm out in front of me. "Hey now, there's no need for this." She stepped forward and knelt in front of Kent to make up for his height. "Are you a new student here?"

"Like hell he is!" I shout, still surprised and upset about the whole ordeal, "C'mon Kent, you're only _ten_!"

"And I got accepted here." he declared, "Not all duelists have to be _your_ age, Knightley."

"That's 'Big Sister' to _you_." I said.

"See? You don't know anything about Duel Monsters and you come here anyway."

I stuck my tongue out at him, and he did it back at me.

Aura stayed calm. "Okay then, Kent. Now that you're here, don't you have somewhere to go?"

"Oh yeah! The orientation!" He ran past me and Aura, then stopped and turned his head. "Bye, sis!" He continued running and disappeared.

"Isn't that a little strange?" Aura wondered.

"That he made it here all on his own and now he's gonna find out what I'm up to and I'm gonna be in hot water with mom...?!" I answered back anxiously.

"Um...yeah." she smiled awkwardly, "Not only that but, didn't you steal his deck?"

I flinched back. "Oh my gosh! You're right! So just how did he get here?"

"Hey, that's nothing _you_ need to know." she said.

"But he's my brother!

"And you're his sister, you have the authority in command. And if he tells someone you're his sister then – "

"Shh! You're making me panic!" I flailed.

~Night Time, at the Cabin~

I stayed indoors all day, trying to calm myself down by reading girly magazines while feeding on licorice. Aura was out and about wandering the Island and doing god-knows-what. In the late afternoon, while I was reading a life-story about a girl who saved her brother from a kidnap, Aura burst through the front door and shouted, "Knightley!"

"What?!" I sat up quickly from where I was sitting.

"I just found the latest gossip!" she announced.

I answered back gloomily, "Woohoo..."

"Word is that there's an abandoned dorm on the end of the island!" she declared.

I answered back gloomily, "Really?"

"Yeah!" she said, not noticing my bored voice, "It sits at the edge of a forest, and apparently it was shut down after a series of events where students from that dorm mysteriously went missing."

I kind of grew interested. "So, where'd they go?"

"That's the mystery of it!" she said, "But it's said to have something to do with 'Shadow Games'. Duels where players play using mystical item called millennium items!"

"C'mon Aura that's just a myth." I pointed out.

"Yeah...but you know, you _have_ to wonder about the story's origin."

"Hmm..."

There was a moment of silence, and right before I went back to reading my magazine Aura spoke up again.

"So how about tonight?" she asked.

"What?" I glanced at her.

"I saw a creepy-looking bulding in a forest while out exploring the place."

"Wait," I said, "You actually want to go out and investigate?"

"Sure! Come on, Knightley. It'll be fun!"

She waited for my response. Hmm...anything to get out of the indoors for a while, I guess...

I nodded, "Sure, okay."

"Great!" she said, "Hey, why don't you bring your brother's deck?"

"Why?" I asked her.

"Who knows, maybe we'll come across an 'undead duelist'!"

I stared at her, unimpressed.

She laughed a little, "Well, we'll need to go over it anyway and see how you'll be able to use it."

……

That night, we ventured out into the forest equipped with a torch...and my brother's deck.

***

Finally done with chapter 6!

_Now that Knightley's squinty little brother has arrived, there's a high chance that he'll blow her cover completely. She just can't risk her identity to be exposed to the rest of the duelists. Because of this, she'll have to lay lower and hopefully rely on Aura's antics to keep her safe._

_But if she ever does get exposed, then what??_

Stay updated!


	7. Turn a BlindEye to a Big Responsibility

_**This is one of the stories I transferred over from my other website. (visit my profile for full details) Be aware that this was one of my very EARLY fanfictions! So excuse me if the writing is a bit…well, 'off'. Let me know if you are enjoying the story so far!**_

Disclaimer: _Yu-Gi-Oh! GX and all its characters rightfully belong to Kazuki Takahashi-sama x3_

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**Turned a Blind-Eye to a Big Responsibility (part 7)**

Aura and I were walking through the forest at night with me following her closely behind. She was holding the torch.

"Are you sure you know where you're going?" I asked.

She stopped, turned her head and winked at me. "Sure I'm sure!"

"I still don't know why we even have to go visit an abandoned dorm in the first place." I said.

"Aw, come on Knightley!" she replied, "What with all the crazy stuff that's been happening lately, your brother coming unexpectedly, you becoming a duelist AND a chambermaid..."

"I'm _not_ officially a duelist y'know. Heck, I don't even know what to expect from this deck I stole from my squinty little brother."

I pondered through the cards in the deck with my fingers as we continued walking.

"Geez...there aren't that many _feminine _cards in here are there?"

Aura giggled. "It's your brother, what do you expect?"

I sighed, "I suppose."

We ventured deeper and deeper into the forest, I kept walking while scanning through the deck when I suddenly bumped into something.

"Oof!" I looked up from my cards and noticed Aura standing there looking left and right. "Ow, Aura why'd you stop for?"

"Do you see that?" she asked.

I groaned. "See _what_?"

"_That_." She raised her torch and I could make out that she was pointing to a run-down building.

"Oh! There it is! Looks kinda creepy..." I said.

"It's probably haunted by the ghosts of the students who went missing." she stated.

"Uh...huh.." I nodded.

***RUSTLE***

"EEK!" I cried.

Aura didn't flinch when I heard the sound and she turned around to see me astounded.

"Knightley? What's the matter?" she asked.

"S-speaking of ghosts, Aura…" I started to say?

"Knightley?" said another voice.

"AH!" I jumped, "Huh?"

I turned around and saw Jaden, Syrus and their other roommate-who I assumed to be Chumley-gstanding there with their torch raised at me.

"Oh, Jaden, hi." I laughed nervously. "You gave me a fright."

He grinned. "Sorry. So, what're you doing out here?"

"Uh - y'know, just exploring. I heard about this place and decided to check it out."

Aura stood there with her torched raised at them. "Hey, your name's Jaden?"

"Hey." He greeted her.

She handed me the torch. "Knightley, hold this."

"Uh?" was my response.

She stepped forward and used her eyes to examine Jaden up and down. Jaden was looking uncomfortable.

"Uh…who are you?" he asked hesitantly.

"Hmm...let's see.." She circled him in six footsteps. "7, 7, 5, 6, 4, 3 and 5." She stopped and sighed. "You only got a score of 37! Unfortunatley for you that's _far_ from acceptable." She smiled proudly.

"Whoa, _what's_ unacceptable?" said Jaden, "And I _still_ don't know who you are!"

"I'm sorry, Jaden...this is my friend." I pointed out, "She's kind of a handful…"

"I'm Aura, nice to meet you." She bowed, then straightened back up. "You're cuter than I expected."

Jaden replied awkwardly, "Uh, thanks."

"And I know _Knightley_ agrees!" she glanced at me.

"Aura!" I shouted, "Oh, come on!"

***CRACK***

Syrus and Chumley yelped in fright and clung to Jaden.

"NGH! What's that?!" they both said at the same time.

I raised my torch light and turned it to the direction of the noise. "Alexis? KENT?!"

I saw Alexis standing there with my brother beside her. She stepped forward and he followed.

"Alexis? What're you doing here?" Syrus asked.

"That's funny, I was just about to ask you guys the very same thing." she replied.

"Kent!" I said, "What about you? What're _you_ doing with Alexis?"

"Sorry, big sister." He answered, "I got lost out here and Alexis found me."

I noticed he was wearing a Ra Yellow outfit and was clinging to Alexis's arm; which made me infuriate.

"What?! You got lost?! How?!"

"That doesn't matter," said Alexis, "I was just escorting him out of here. _You_ big sister should be more responsible."

I glared at Kent when I was meant to glare at Alexis for saying what she said.

"I heard about the abandoned dorm and wanted to check it out." said Kent.

"Hey, we're here for the same reason." Jaden stated.

"So are we!" said Aura after him.

"Um – " I started to say.

"Well that's not very intelligent." said Alexis, "Don't you _know_ that kids have a way of _disappearing_ around here?"

"What?" I replied.

"Ah, come on." said Jaden, "That's just some urban myth."

"No it's not." Alexis indicated, "Believe me, I know! Why else would the academy make this place completely forbidden?"

"It's forbidden?" Aura wondered.

Alexis continued, "They catch you here and they'll _expel_ you."

"Yeah, sure." said Jaden, "Okay, so then why are _you_ here, Alexis?

"_I_ have my reasons, _that's_ why!" she snapped.

I flinched back. Jaden was also surprised.

"Whoa, Alexis. No need to snap." I said.

"We just came here to look around. But hey, we'll stay out of your way. Don't worry about it." said Jaden.

She lowered her head. "Look..." She turned away. "It's just that..."

She was beginning to walk off along with Kent who still clung to her arm.

"Just that what?" Kent asked.

"One of the kids who disappeared here..." she began, "Was my brother."

I gasped along with the others.

She stood with her back turned. "Knightley, you're lucky for me to have found your brother out here."

"Uh..sure. I mean, thank you." I lowered my head. "(_Darnit! This girl is my rival! Why did she have to be so...__helpful__?_)

I looked up, and she was gone, along with my brother.

"If Alexis's brother really disappeared...than the rumours aren't just rumours." Syrus stated.

We all looked towards the run-down abandoned dorm building.

"I say we go back, Jaden." said Syrus.

"Yeah? I say we go in!" Jaden replied.

"What?!" Syrus and I both shouted at the same time.

Jaden and Chumley had already started walking along the path towards the building

Aura whispered in my ear before she followed. "Your boy's got an adventurous way of thinking. I _like_ your taste!"

I felt myself blush, "UH-!"

She waved as she went off after them.

"See you in a few Syrus, Knightley!" Jaden called, "Don't 'disappear' on us!"

Aura chuckled.

I was standing there, dumbfounded beside Syrus who glanced around nervously.

"D-disappear?" he said, "Aww...wait up!"

He ran up after them and I followed.

.....

We were exploring one of the hallways inside the abandoned dorm.

"Whoa! This place is sweet!" said Aura.

I stared, unimpressed. "It is?"

"Y'know, a little paint, couple of cardboard boxes, maybe a throw-rug… And we could _so_ totally move in here!" Jaden exclaimed cheerfully.

"Huh?" was Chumley's response.

"What? Are you kidding?" Syrus asked, not amused.

I covered my mouth and couldn't help but laugh quietly.

"This is even worse than the Slifer dorm." said Syrus, "I mean, what's all this stuff on the walls?"

"Do you think it has something to do with the Shadow Games?" Chumley asked.

I shone the torch onto one of the walls and saw a stone plaque with egyptian hieroglyphics engraved into it. Creepy...

"Jaden!" I shouted, "Don't stand so close, are you nuts?"

"Hey, I think this shows the seven millennium items." He said, examining the walls, "How cool..."

"And _that_ shows someone I've never seen before." said Aura, who steered my arm and shone the torchlight onto a framed portrait of a young male student.

"Hang on..." I said, "He looks a bit like – "

Suddenly we heard two different screams echo through the hallway at the same time, one of which I recognised as – my brother's!

"AH! That was Kent!" I exclaimed.

"That other one sounded like Alexis!" Syrus pointed out.

"Let's go!" Jaden ordered.

We all ran down the hall towards the direction of the screams until we reached a balcony. Jaden stopped at the fence and shone his torch down at the floor below.

"Alexis?" he called.

I cupped my hands around my mouth and called out. "Kent!"

Everyone followed Jaden down the stairs to the room of sheet-covered furniture and watched him pick up a card.

"This is Alexis's card." He said.

"Well, then there's only one way she could've gone." said Chumley, who shone his torch at a dark archway.

"Hey..." I noticed something on the floor in the doorway and ran over to pick it up, it was another card. "This card isn't from Alexis's deck."

Aura looked over my shoulder. "The Mystical Elf...well, only one way to find out that it could be your brother's!"

……

We went walking through a small, dark stone hall held up by wooden framework, and called out to each of them.

"Alexis!" Syrus called.

"Alexis!" called Chumley.

"Kent!" Aura called.

"Alexis!" called Jaden.

"Kent! Little brother!" I called out after them.

I began to assume the worst. "Alexis was right, it's _my_ fault I'm irresponsible. Some big sister_ I_ am..."

I felt someone's reassuring hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, don't be so hard on yourself." I heard Jaden say.

I turned my head. "But you heard how frightened those screams sounded!"

"Listen, wherever he is I'm sure he's doing just fine."

"I do hope you're right, Jaden." I sighed. "(_That __still__ doesn't undo my feeling of guilty irresponsibility though..._)"

……

We reached a smoky dark stone arena. On the other side were two monumental-old-fashioned stone sarcophaguses. The sight of their occupants made me gasp.

"Oh no! Kent!" I cried.

"Alexis!" Jaden exclaimed.

"Hahaha...they can't hear you." Said a voice I hadn't heard before, "They're far away, locked in the shadow realm."

"Who's there?" Jaden asked.

Suddenly a tall dark figure in a black coat emerged from the smoke in front of the stone coffins. Some of us took a step back.

"Your worst nightmare come true." He said.

"Oh, gimme a break." Jaden huffed.

The figure lifted his head which also had a black hat on. "Then let me prove it to you. In a Shadow Game!"

"We gotta get Alexis back!" Syrus exclaimed.

"And save Knightley's brother." said Aura after him.

"Yeah!" said Jaden, "Hand them over right now or you'll be sorry!"

"Jaden..." I uttered.

"The only way I can hand them over is if you beat me in a Shadow Game." The Shadow Duelist pointed out.

"He's not lookin' at _me_ is he?" Chumley muttered.

"Look, I'm not afraid of dueling you. But Shadow Games don't exist!" stated Jaden.

"Yes, the others didn't believe in the Shadow Games either, but they were soon convinced." The Shadow Duelist indicated, "You see, when you lose in a shadow game you don't just pay with your life-points, you pay with your _soul_."

"So _you're_ the one behind all those disappearances." I said.

Jaden stepped forward and said, "Well you're not getting us, especially Alexis, and Knightley's brother, Kent!"

"Unless you win they're mine forever, and you soon will be." said the Shadow Duelist.

Jaden groaned. I stared across at my unconscious brother inside his sarcophagus when Alexis's words suddenly came back to me.

_"YOU big sister should be more responsible...Knightley, you're lucky for me to have found your brother out here."_

I turned my head, Chumley was just about to hand Jaden his duel disk when I stopped him. "Wait!"

They all paused and glanced at me.

"Huh?" was Chumley's response.

"Knightley, what is it?" asked Syrus.

I held my hand out. "Hand it over, this is _my_ battle."

"What?" Aura was in disbelief.

"Knightley are you sure?" Jaden asked me.

I lowered my head. "Listen, you assured me that Kent was doing fine, when we're already too late. But, that doesn't change the fact of my irresponsibility, my lack of authority." I straightened my head back up at them and smiled, "Let _me_ take charge of this, I don't want him to wake up and see that his sister stood by and had someone else go through the trouble of rescuing him. I'd want for him to know that it was his sister who saved him."

"Knightley...?" Aura tried again.

After a moment's hesitation, Jaden sighed and took the duel disk from Chumley.

"It's _your_ family…" He held it out to me. I took it from him and smiled reassuringly.

"Don't let him down!" He smiled back.

I bowed in gratitude. "I won't, I promise!"

The Shadow Duelist spoke up and broke through the mood of the atmosphere. "Dueling out of reponsibility? How moral of you, young lady."

I attached the duel disk to my arm and slid my brother's deck into the slot. The Shadow Duelist uncoiled his duel disk and I did the same.

"Why, thank you." I said.

"So be it." He stated.

My nerves were dancing all over the place, I was part nervous, but totally determined.

I glanced toward the sarcophagus holding Kent. "(_Don't worry, Kent. I'll get you out._)"


	8. Shadow Game Initiative

_**This is one of the stories I transferred over from my other website. (visit my profile for full details) Be aware that this was one of my very EARLY fanfictions! So excuse me if the writing is a bit…well, 'off'.**_

Disclaimer: _Yu-Gi-Oh! GX and all its characters rightfully belong to Kazuki Takahashi-sama x3_

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**Shadow Game Initiative (part 8)**

My nerves were dancing all over the place, I was part nervous, but totally determined.

I glanced toward the sarcophagus holding Kent. "(_Don't worry, Kent. I'll get you out._)"

On the sideline of the arena, Aura was watching carefully, "Here we go..."

The Shadow Duelist drew a card from his deck and put it into play. "I summon Infernal Queen Arch Fiend in attack mode!"

"Arch Fiend?" I asked.

"Yes," he answered, "And now that this monster's out, each and every monster with Arch Fiend in its name gains 1000 attack points."

I heard Chumley gasp and Syrus say "Careful, Knightley." behind me, but I stood my ground.

"And I activate the spell card, Pandaemonium, so that I don't have to sacrifice life-points during every standby phase of my turn."

I thought, "(_What the __heck__ is he talking about?_)"

The Shadow Duelist put the card in play and a bright light emerged from his duel disk, a light so bright I had to shield my eyes from being blinded. When I lowered my arm, the arena's borders were all dark-red and bat-like...at least that's what _I_ thought.

"Whoa...pretty cool." I heard Jaden say.

"It doesn't just change the scenery, it changes the rules." said the Shadow Duelist, "And if my Arch Fiends are ever destroyed out of battle, I get to put another fiend right into my hand!"

I gritted my teeth and grunted.

"I know what you're thinking, your little brother's fate is all but sealed."

The floor beneath my feet started shifting.

"Well, you're right."

Within a moment the coffins that held Alexis and Kent closed on their own, red claws grew out of the ground, wrapped themselves around the coffins and pulled them down underground.

"Kent!" I cried.

"That's not fair!" Aura exclaimed.

"Yeah, what've you done?!" Jaden shouted.

The Shadow Duelist was quiet for a second, before he replied. "The same thing I would've done to all of you, should you continue to pester and annoy me!"

"Hey, you leave my friends out of this! My turn!" I glanced at the cards in my hand. "(_I've got nothing good enough against a monster with 1900 attack points, but maybe..._)" I put my cards into play. "I summon Masaki the Legendary Swordsman, in attack mode!" A samurai in green armour appeared on the field. "And I'm gonna thrown down a face-down."

I muttered under my breath. ""thrown down a face-down"? GOD, that sounded lame!"

"Too bad you won't have a chance to use them." said my opponent, "I summon Terror King Arch Fiend in attack mode! Now you have TWO vicious arch fiends to contend with."

The Terror Arch Fiend's attack points increased by 1000, thanks to the Infernal Queen.

"...making him an even more fiendish force to be reckoned with!"

"3000 attack points?!" I exclaimed.

"That's right, and I'm going to put them all to use. Terror King Arch Fiend, attack Masaki!"

I grinned. "Not now you would! I reveal my face-down card, Waboku! Any damage inflicted by my opponent's monster is decreased to 0 during the turn this card is activated."

"You really thought you could be me into a trap? Look around you and tell me who's trapped."

"What's _that_?" I asked angrily.

"I mean your trap won't work against my Terror King. It activates his ability, an ability that will determine our monsters' fate by a game of chance!"

The lava in the arena started to bubble, then six numbered balls floated out of it and flew to their place beside the Shadow Duelist.

"Aw, geez..." I muttered.

The Shadow Duelist explained, "You see, when he is targeted by an opponent's trap, Terror King's special ability gives me a gambling chance. A number between 1 and 6 is selected at random, and if it happens to be 2 or a 5, your trap's destroyed and your monster receives the attack from Terror King. So, let's spin the wheel of fate and see what happens, shall we?"

A flame exploded between the numbers and flew through each one, consecutively.

"It's okay, the odds are way in Knightley's favor." said Chumley.

"You _flunked_ math, Chumley." stated Syrus.

"No, I got a 54!" he replied.

The flame stopped on 2.

"It seems the odds are in favor of the Terror King Arch Fiend." said the Shadow Duelist, "Waboku is shattered!"

My trap card along with my monster was eliminated from the arena in an instant, I watched it disappear in an explosion of flames.

I groaned, "So much for that."

"C'mon Knightley!" Aura cheered, "Getting pummeled on the first go ain't so bad, keep at it!"

"You're right, I'll just have to find a monster strong enough to keep my life-points safe." I said.

"I don't think so..." the Shadow Duelist cut in.

"Eh?" I replied.

He raised a golden triangular item with an eye. "…at least not from THIS!"

The whole room was engulfed in a blinding bright light.

.....

"Now the shadow games have _truly_ begun!" he declared.

I raised my arm to cover my eyes and groaned over the brightness of the light.

"Don't your life-points seem so utterly insignificant? Now that it's your very life that's at risk?"

I lowered my arm and glanced his way in puzzlement.

"Knightley!" Jaden called.

"No!" Aura cried.

"What the..?!" I said, "My arm's – "

The Shadow Duelist chuckled. "It is the way of the shadows, transcending the game, attacking your body."

"My feet are stuck!" I exclaimed.

"Of course they are. As the shadow fog rolls past, you _all_ will feel the darkness take you into its grip."

Everyone behind me clung to their throats.

"The air..." said Syrus.

"Getting tough to breathe…" Chumley muttered.

"You are in the mercy of the night now!"

"I can't...feel a thing!" Aura managed.

"Treasure the numbness, it will not last." The Shadow Duelist continued, "Soon, you will be drawn into an infinite castle of eternal darkness where every waking moment will be filled with – "

"Alright, gimme a break!" Jaden cut in.

I turned my head. "Jaden?"

"How bad can it be? So what, back at our dorm we got black out curtains so that we can sleep in later." he said, "I'm not scared of the dark, it's great!"

"Hmm...but your blackout curtains, don't wield the same kind of mystic power as my millennium item does!" said the Shadow Duelist.

His item shone with dignity in confirmation.

I uttered, "Did he say – "

"_Millennium_ item?" Aura finished.

"Oh no, trouble!" Chumley shouted anxiously.

"It's your move." stated the Shadow Duelist, "But make it count, it may be your last!"

"(_SHEESH! A millennium item, a shadow fog...totally unexpected conditions for my first duel! My FIRST DUEL!_)"

For some reason I started to giggle. "Hehehe...and it's a "Shadow Game"! Hahaha..."

I saw the Shadow Duelist grit his teeth on the other side, it looked like he was getting uncomfortable. I quieted down and just smiled.

"Looks like I made the right choice to duel out of morality after all." I made my move, "I activate the spell card, Pot Of Greed."

I glanced down at the cards I just drew from my deck.

"(_Monster Reborn?? I can't waste this card right now! But I'm in a tight spot here, looks like I've got no other choice._)"

I put it to use. "I summon the spellcaster, Flame Manipulator. And I resurrect Masaki the Legendary Swordsman from the graveyard back onto the field with Monster Reborn!"

Masaki the Legendary Swordsman returned to the field.

"And that's not all, I'll use the magic card, Polymerization to fuse them together and bring forth...Flame Swordsman!"

My new fusion monster emerged onto the field.

"Go Knightley!" Aura called out.

"Okay, so it's not enough to destroy your King completely," I said, "But at least it'll land some 'deathly' damage on your Queen. Flame Swordsman, attack Infernalqueen Arch Fiend!"

Just as my monster was about to land its attack, the ShadowDuelist started chuckling again.

"Oh boy…" I muttered.

"I activate Terror King's special ability once again." he ordered, "Spin, roulette!"

The flame started flying through the number balls again.

"Oh no, it just can't land on a 2 or a 5 _again_." said Jaden.

The flame stopped at 5.

"HAHAHA!" the Shadow Duelist laughed, "I win again, seems as though fate isn't on your side half the time. And now you will pay the price!"

The Infernalqueen Arch Fiend took no effect from my attack, which flew back to Flame Swordsman and destroyed him on the spot. I shielded my face with my arm from the debris.

"AH, DARNIT! Talk about some _really_ rotten luck!" I shouted angrily.

"Knightley!" Syrus called out.

"This is so not cool." said Aura, "No matter _what_ Knightley does, that ShadowDuelist's arch fiend uses that roulette to save himself. And this unbearable dark fog isn't helping things either. She first took the opportunity of dueling to save brother, Kent, and now he might not even have a sister alive to save him first!"

"Now, all your monsters are destroyed, and your next! HAHAHA..." His evil laugh echoed throughout the whole room.

My life-points were at 2900, while the ShadowDuelist's life-points lay untouched at 4000.

"Your destiny is set." He said, "Soon my archfiend deck will finish off all your monsters, and my millennium item will finish off your soul."

"Hey you." I said to him, "We're still dueling aren't we? It's my turn, so I'll use Dian Keto the Cure Master to increase my lifepoints by 1000. And I'll lay down two face-downs, that's it."

"Don't waste my time, your lifepoints won't last long enough for you to use any more of your cards." He said, "Kent and Alexis's souls will soon be gone, and so will _yours_. It's my turn. Terror King Arch Fiend, attack!"

Behind me I heard Jaden make a witty observation of Terror King's way of attack. "Talk about 'butterflies in your stomach'."

I chuckled, "Maybe so. I activate the magic card, Dark Hole! Since I don't have any monsters on my side of the field, I don't have to worry about destroying my own. So say farewell to your pair of Arch Fiends!"

"Alright!" Aura cheered, "If Knightley manages to keep this up we can finally get out of here. And with Kent and Alexis too."

In an instant, both Infernalqueen Arch Fiend and Terror Arch King were eliminated from the battle.

"URGH...how _dare_ you!" said the Shadow Duelist.

"How dare I?" I asked, "How _dare_ I…I'll tell you how I dare!"

"Well let's see how daring you are after _this_! I'm using Desrook Archfiend's special effect. It allows me to resurrect Terror King Archfiend back when I send this card to the graveyard. Say hello to a not so old friend."

TerrorKing Archfiend returned to the field back from the graveyard.

I huffed. "Well, at least his attack points aren't so high anymore."

"And now I activate the effect of the field card, Pandaemonium. Hahaha...it's magic allows me to summon a new archfiend if one of my archfiend monstors is ever sent to the graveyard."

I grunted in annoyance.

"Of course this _new_ archfiend can't be as powerful, but then my Terrorking Archfiend is packing more than enough power as it is. Now, let's try this again. Locust storm mirage!"

His Terror King Archfiend let out another attack like before.

"Will this 'storm' ever let up?" I heard Chumley say.

"Hold on," I said, "You forgot about the magic card I activated on my last turn!"

I covered my face with my arms and lowered them after being hit, my lifepoints were reduced to 1900. While I was feeling a little worn out, I kept both feet on the ground.

"You _still_ stand?" he asked.

I grinned, "My feet are pretty good at keeping my legs straight."

The ShadowDuelist scoffed and held out his millennium puzzle. "But your feet and legs are _not_ good. And now with this latest strike on your lifepoints, neither are your _arms_!"

The millennium item glowed and I suddenly felt a strange sensation on my right arm. I turned my head toward it to see it had disappeared.

"AH!" I cried out.

"Oh no!" Syrus exclaimed, "Knightley's fading really fast."

"(_So this is what they call 'hanging on by a limb'._)" I looked back at the duel disk on my other arm and drew a card. "Uh-!"

I glanced down at the card to see it was the card I picked up on the way here; the Mystical Elf. "_This monster card lacks offence, and none of my equip cards are enough to knock TerrorKing out of the arena. Unless...._)"

I made my move. "This turn had better count. Alright, I use the magic card, Block Attack. It lets me shift one of your monsters to a defense position. So down you go, Terrorking! And now, I summon the Mystical Elf!"

The gorgeous light-monster appeared and stood in its place on my side of the battlefield.

Aura was astounded. "That's-!"

"Give it up, she doesn't have enough attack points to destroy my archfiend." said my opponent.

"I equip her with Malevolent Nuzzler to increase her attack points by 700." I announced, "Now you know what that means."

"What?!" he shouted.

"Attack! Mystical Elf!"

My monster landed its attack on the ShadowDuelist's archfiend was eliminated once again.

"And you know what else?" I said, "I've still got her attack to use on _you_!"

The ShadowDuelist's lifepoints were reduced to 2500.

"Uhh..." Part of the ShadowDuelist was beginning to fade.

"Parts of _him_ are disappearing too!" Syrus indicated.

"Think that could work on my waistline?" Chumley asked.

"It matters not because I have another Desrook Archfiend." He used it for the same reason as before, and Terrorking returned from the graveyard once again.

"This guy's really overstaying his welcome." said Jaden, "Knightley's gotta find a way to get rid of him somehow."

"Thanks for the wakeup call, Jaden." I responded, "But maybe I should find a way to protect my lifepoints first." I summoned Spirit of the Harp in defense mode. "Alright, come at me with all you've got!"

"Be careful what you wish for, because you might just get it." He sacrificed his Terrorking Archfiend to summon the Skull Archfiend of Lightning. "You wanted my worst? Well, you've got it."

He used it take down my Mystical Elf, reducing my lifepoints to 900. I cringed as the feeling of disappearing swept over me again.

"(_I have to stay standing.._)"

The ShadowDuelist raised his millennium item, and it glowed and shone brightly. "Look into my millennium item, and feel yourself drifting further into the shadows."

My eyes squinted as I gazed at it, unable to look away. I thought about Kent.

"(_Hang in there little brother..._)"

Shadow Game Initiative (part 8)


	9. Duel out of Morality

_**This is one of the stories I transferred over from my other website. (visit my profile for full details) Be aware that this was one of my very EARLY fanfictions! So excuse me if the writing is a bit…well, 'off'. Say, do people even read this stuff?**_

Disclaimer: _Yu-Gi-Oh! GX and all its characters rightfully belong to Kazuki Takahashi-sama x3_

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**Duel out of Morality (part 9)**

"(_Hang in there little brother..._)"  
"You are defeated, your lifepoints are all but gone..." I heard the Shadow Duelist say, "Soon, you'll be nothing but a hollow,souless _shell_!"  
I clung to my throat and dropped to my knees. I really felt like I was going...to...  
"Feel yourself drifting..._drifting_..."  
I raised my head tosee the light from his millenium item, my vision blurred. "(_I can't see anymore...What's...happening to me?_)" I lowered my head back down. I could barely hear Jaden and Aura talking behind me.  
"She can't even stand up!" Jaden exclaimed.  
"Knightley!" Aura called.  
I was beginning to lose my breath, when suddenly...

***WHOOSH***

_  
_I raised my head wearily, and saw a small ball of light in front of me...transform into-  
"Mystical Elf?? But I thought you were defeated." I said.  
She spoke back to me with a realistic female voice, "Knightley, your brother's in trouble."  
I scoffed, "Yeah, and I am too."  
She opened her eyes. "**_Get_**_ up_."  
"I...can't..."  
"Listen, Knightley. _You're_ not the one playing in the Shadows, your _opponent_ is!"  
I straightened up, "What are you talking about?"  
"The shadow duelist is manipulating your mind to make you believe that you're dwelling in the Shadows."  
_Now_ I understand, "He's been playing with my mind this whole time?! That punk!"

I forced myself to stand up and the vision of her faded, "Alright, this Shadow Game scam is all figured out _now_!"  
"Did she just say Shadow Game _scam_?" Chumley asked.  
"What's she mean?" asked Syrus after him.  
"I mean that...my soul is no longer hanging by a limb!"  
"Huh?" Jaden and Aura said at the same time.  
"Let's carry on shall we? It's still my turn!" I saw the ShadowDuelist grit his teeth, "I play the magic card, De-Spell. It allows me to destroy 1 Magic Card on the field. And now that Pandemonium is in play...say goodbye to your crimson-bony-batwinged arena!" I put the card into play.  
"Uh-oh..." The Shadow Duelist muttered.  
In an instant, the arena was wiped out and we returned to the same arena we started with. The ShadowDuelist reacted hesitantly and raised his millenium item again. "So what? You still haven't destroyed _this_!"  
I grinned. "You should be careful what you wish for, because you might just get it!" I threw my Mystical Elf card at him and pierced the front of the millenium item whose shine went away straight after it hit. My faded body parts returned to normal.  
"Alright, Knightley! You got your body back!" Aura shouted.  
"I never really lost it, this whole Shadow Game was all a big fake." I said to her.  
"Huh?"  
"It was all just hypnosis. A whole lot of smoke and mirrors to make me _think_ I was giving myself up."  
"Then this guy's a complete sham!" said Jaden, "I mean he could just be some out of work phoney!"  
I laughed at his remark.  
"I'm not out of work," said the Shadow Duelist, "I could get my job back at the fair back any time I want!"  
"Yeah, I'm sure that you could." said Jaden, "And I'm sure that paper mache millenium item goes over real well with the –"  
"No!" my opponent cut in, "Be quiet, it's real! _I'm_ real!"  
Seeing my card stuck in at the front of the puzzle made him look that much more stupid.  
"You're a sideshow phoney." I stated.  
"Uh...you fool! You forget!"  
"Huh?" I replied, "Oh..."  
"Hm." He grinned, "**_Your brother_**!"  
"Kent..." Aura muttered.  
"Hahaha...that's right. Imprinted in the shadow tomb. His soul is festering in the dark recesses of the netherworld." He raised the puzzle again, "That _proves_ that this millenium pendant is real! What do you have to say to _that_?"  
I grunted. I heard Aura, Syrus and Chumley gasp behind me.

But Jaden... "Huh...besides that you're a big dunce? "  
"Uh..?" the Shadow Duelist was in disbelief.  
I turned around to look at Jaden, and saw him smiling, "See, all the millenium items were sketched on the _inside_ of this dorm. And yours would be called the millenium puzzle, _not_ pendant!"  
The ShadowDuelist flinched back.  
"You don't have Kent's soul, you never did! So hand him over along with Alexis too! And all the other kids you snatched!"  
"Jaden..." I uttered.  
"Other kids? I don't know what you're talking about." said my opponent, "And because of your earlier conning comment you can find your friend by yourself!"

***POOF***

He attempted to walk away within a display of smoke.  
"Coward! You're not getting away that easily! Stay right there!" I ran forward across the arena to where he stood. Suddenly the floor started rumbling beneath my feet, I stopped running. "What the-?! Did _you_ do that?"  
The ShadowDuelist turned around and reacted in surprise, "Ah-! I didn't."  
The arena floor lit up and the light outlined a mark of what looked like the symbol on a millenium item. Then winds started to gather into a tornado in the middle of the eye-symbol, dust and smoke filled the air.  
"What's going on?!" I exclaimed.  
"Ahh-!" The Shadow Duelist was also astonished.  
The smoke engulfed us both and transformed into a dark electric sphere that covered the entire arena.  
"Whoa..." I managed to say.  
"What is this place?! Where am I?" My opponent asked anxiously.  
"Come _on_!" I said, "You heard what Jaden said, enough tricks already!"  
"A trick? I can't do something like this!"  
Suddenly black orbs fell from the 'roof' of the sphere and began to engulf the ShadowDuelist entirely.  
"Help! They're attacking! Knightley, save me!"  
"Uh-!"  
They took over him before I could react, I stood frozen where I was. Then I saw that they were coming after me aswell.  
"Oh no! Huh?"

***WHOOSH***

A small ball of light formed in front of me and transformed once again.  
"You-!"  
The Mystical Elf stood in front of me and scared off the black orb-creatures with a beam of light from her hands.  
"You saved me...again." I said, " Thank you."  
I heard the ShadowDuelist struggling for breath across from where I was.  
"Shouldn't we save him too?"  
I knew it was too late, but then the ShadowDuelist stopped struggling. I watched him lift his head and my eyes widened at what I saw; his eyes were now glowing a bright red behind his mask.  
"Knightley Afura, the shadow's paying for a soul. Only one shall survive." He said.  
"Oh, come on! You really went overboard this time."  
"This duel shall now continue in the Shadow Realm."  
Our monsters reappeared on the field.  
I huffed, "So you'll stick to the Shadow Realm thing? Fine, but you better keep your end of the bargain and let my brother go. I play the magic card, The Reliable Guardian! It increases 1 of my monster's defense points by 700 points during the turn this card is activated."  
My Spirit of the Harp monster's defense increased to 2700.  
"You won't be touching my lifepoints _now_!"  
"Very well." He said, "My turn."  
"Yeah? You forget. Without your Pandemonium card out in play, having an archfiend on the field costs you 500 life points per turn!"  
His lifepoints decreased to 2400. "Urh...500 lifepoints is nothing compared to a soul!" He used his archfiend to attack my Spirit of the Harp whose defense decreased to 700.  
"Whoa...you're really bringing out the big guns now aren't ya?" I remarked.  
The ShadowDuelist summoned Desrook Archfiend in attack mode to end his turn.  
The Mystical Elf glanced my way, her eyes as if warning me.

I smiled back assuringly. "Don't you worry, I'm still in this duel no matter what!" It was my turn now, I drew a card from my deck. "I change Spirit of the Harp to attack mode. And I place one card face down on the field, that'll be all."  
"Very well, I know exactly what to do on my turn." Said my opponent, "Attack, Skull Archfiend of Lightning!"  
"Go ahead!" I called out, "I activate the trap card Just Desserts. It allows me to inflict 500 points of damage to your lifepoints for every monster _you_ have on the field!"  
My monster was destroyed, but his lifepoints decreased to 1400.  
"So how about it, huh?"  
"You coward." He said to me, "First you have my lifepoints attacked by your trap card, then you allow your monster to be destroyed to protect your own. But it matters not, nothing can protect you from this!"  
He activated the trap card Battle-Scarred, which allowed the cost of 500 lifepoints from havinghis archfiend on the field affect him, but me too. His lifepoints decreased to 900 but my life points decreased to 400.  
"Ugh...this is bad. I won't be able to last another turn!"  
The black orbs began surrounding me again, and the Mystical Elf ward them off using the same technique as before.  
"Don't worry." I muttered, "It's all good, I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve."  
The Shadow Duelist continued, "I place my face-down card, and activate the spell card Double Spell. Now, by simply discarding a spell card from my hand, I'm allowed to use one of the spell cards from your graveyard. And I select Dian Keto the Cure Master! Now, I sacrifice one meaningless card, and regain a total of 1000 lifepoints!"  
The black orbs started surrounding me again, and the Mystical Elf ward them off once more with her beam of light.  
"(_Okay, I better make this turn count. Because it will definitely be my last._)"  
It was now my turn, "Uh-! No way!" The card I drew was indeed the strongest card in my brother's deck. And this was the best opportunity to use it!  
"I summon Red Eyes Black Dragon, in attack mode!" I declared.  
The roaring creature emerged and took its place on my side of the field.  
"And, I'll activate the Field magic card Mountain, and increase its attack points by 200."  
"My skull archfiend's roulette will render your field spell useless! Yes, if this roulette lands on a 1, 3 or 6 your Mountain field fails to activate."  
The flame began flying from one number to the next, I waited anxiously.  
"(_ARGH! I always get bad luck with this thing._)"  
The flame landed on 4, 5, 6, 1, 2...it stopped on 2!

The ShadowDuelist flinched back, "TWO?! Uh..."  
"Alright!" I exclaimed, "FINALLY, I win!" My dragon's attack points increased to 2600.  
"And you know what that means! Red Eyes, destroy Desrook Archfiend!" My monster eliminated Desrook Archfiend from the field. "Wanna know something else? I've still got his attack to use on your _other_ archfiend! This duel is finished!"  
His Lightning Archfiend was destroyed and were his lifepoints, "NOOOOO!" The black orbs began engulfing him again, and he started drowning in them, "No! Get off me! Argh..!"  
I stood there and hesitated to go and help him. I turned to the Mystical Elf beside me, "You know, you were right when you said this ShadowGame was a fake. But _those_ are some realistic special effects, don't you think?"  
She looked past me meaningfully; I turned around and saw a crack of light in the wall of darkness.  
"Huh?" I said, "Think that's an exit? Well, good enough for me! Let's go!"  
I ran towards it and dived into the light.

Duel out of Morality (part 9)


End file.
